Calendar Challenge
by pony-girl298
Summary: Response to violet-phoenix-rose's challenge in the forums. One chapter per month documenting Meg and her adventures transferring from Canada to Hogwarts mid-year. Blaise/OC then...who knows?
1. January

**January - new; "I'm used to being lonely. It's the only thing I can rely on these days."**

Blaise watched her from across the library. She had been sitting at the same table for hours. She had a book open in front of her, but she wasn't reading. She was just staring out the window as the snow fell. She looked so sad and lifeless, like she was thinking about something that made her empty inside.

Her front of her chestnut hair was pulled back from her face with a dragonfly clip. Her slender legs were crossed at the ankles and tucked under her chair. She rested her elbows on the table and her head on her knuckles. Everything about her was delicate, like porcelain.

He knew that she was a transfer student from Canada and that she would probably be going home next year. He shouldn't become fixated on her. She was a foreigner and the rumour was that she was a blood traitor too. And she was only here temporarily. It was stupid to keep staring at her.

It was like an out of body experience. He felt himself getting out of his chair and walking over to her. Then he was in front of her. She looked up but didn't say anything. Right, he had come over, he should say something.

"You look awfully lonely," he said then immediately kicked himself mentally. What kind of line was that? But she answered.

"**I'm used to being lonely. It's the only thing I can rely on these days," **she glanced up to find him still standing over her. She gestured to the empty chair across from her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked sitting down. She was a blood traitor. He shouldn't be acting so nice. But she had some kind of power over him. She reminded him of a song that one of his step-fathers, the Russian one, had played. It was called "Ochi Chernye," in Russian. He had told Blaise that it meant "Dark Eyes."

She had dark eyes. She looked at him with her dark eyes and his chest tightened.

"What's there to talk about?" she scoffed. "My school got destroyed and my class has been scattered across the world until the damage can be repaired. My only sort-of friend went to a school in Alberta with everyone else but I ended up way over here."

"What happened?" he asked.

"There was an ice storm," she said. "The roof collapsed and the anti-muggle enchantments broke so they couldn't just use magic to repair it. It would bring up too many questions and...Why am I even telling you this?" she trailed off.

"You're Margaret, right?" he asked after a while.

"Meg," she corrected. "Meg Foster. I've seen you around. You're Slytherin." It was a statement, not a question, but he felt the urge to nod anyway.

"Blaise Zabini," he introduced himself. "Do you want to go grab something to eat?" he asked.

She looked up, surprised.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." She closed her book and they left the library. Together.


	2. February

**February - heart; "I don't want to be your whole life – just your favourite part."**

They left Potions, hand in hand. It was a bit awkward since she was 5'1" and he was 5'11" but neither of them cared. They stopped and sat in the wide sill of one of the windows while Meg rearranged the contents of her bag. She was always in such a hurry to leave that class that her things were always disorganized.

"It's snowing again," Blaise observed.

Meg glanced out the window and laughed. "That's not snow."

"Yes it is. What? Do you have a strange Canadian word that white fluffy stuff coming out of the sky?"

"We call those flurries," Meg said with mock seriousness. "It's not heavy enough to be snow."

"Right, I forgot. Snow to you means over twenty centimetres."

"Try thirty," Meg laughed again as Blaise looked horrified.

"Thirty... All at once? You know what? Never mind. What are you doing later?" Blaise asked.

"Harry and I have a Magical Creatures project that we need to work on."

Blaise made a noise that he tried to muffle. Meg heard. "What?" she asked.

"I'm your boyfriend and you tell me that you're going to spend time with another guy. What do you think?"

"Oh stop it. Jealousy doesn't suit you," Meg scolded.

"I mean it," he stopped walking and pulled her to a stop too. "I don't like you spending time with him. I don't like the way he looks at you. I know that look. I give you that look sometimes."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I'm your boyfriend! I'm allowed to give you that look!"

"And I'm allowed to have a life!" she retorted. He was speechless. She was right, again.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes-"

"Then relax," she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. "You can't be my whole life."

**"I don't want to be your whole life, just your favourite part,"** he gave her that cheeky grin of his and she laughed.

"You already are," she kissed him.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Blaise began rummaging in his bag. "I know Valentine's Day isn't for a few days, but these will go bad by then." He handed her a basket in the shape of a heart, filled with-

"Mangos!" Meg gasped. "These are impossible to find here, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she threw her arms around him, almost dropping the basket.

"Oops," she laughed and he laughed with her.

"So, not so bad being on the other side of the pond, huh?" he asked.

"I still miss home, but Hogwarts has its perks," she gave him the look he had been talking about earlier and kissed him again. "Definite perks."


	3. March

**March - spring; "I didn't say it was your fault."**

"I can't do it!" Blaise wailed, clutching the bench. Meg had heckled and harassed him onto a pair of skates. Even though it was March, winter had taken a final curtain call and the lake was once again frozen. While Meg skated around the lake, Blaise was trying desperately to stay on his feet.

"Yes you can!" she said for what felt like the hundredth time. "Here, let me help."

"You're shorter than me. How can you help?" he pointed out. She pouted comically, like she always did when he pointed out her height, or lack thereof. She didn't really mind the teasing, which is why he did it. If she had minded, he would have stopped.

"It should be spring now anyway," he grumbled. Meg ignored him.

Now it was his turn to pout. Meg laughed and so did he. However, in doing so, he relaxed his grip on her hands and crashed to the ice.

"Ow!" he rubbed his tailbone. "I'll feel that in the morning."

"I'm sorry," she said. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," he paused and chuckled. "I was just thinking I should get some ice, but..." Meg laughed too at the irony of it.

"I think I'm going to sit down," Blaise said. "Why don't you go on without me?"

"Ok," Meg helped him to the bench and then skated off. She loved skating, even if it was just around the lake.

When Meg got to the other end of the lake, she looked back. Blaise was trying to stand up on his skates for another try.

She started to skate back towards him. Suddenly, a cracking sound filled the air. She scrambled to stop but it was too late. The ice gave out and she disappeared.

Panic filled Blaise's heart when he saw her disappear.

"MEG?" he yelled. He was suddenly on his feet like the skates were part of him. He rushed to the jagged hole in the ice until the give under his skates forced him to back up. The black water churned and splashed in contrast with the calm white ice.

Suddenly, there was Meg. Her head popped up through the hole. She gasped. She coughed. Her teeth chattered. She reached her arms up onto the ice, looking for something to grab.

What to do? What to do? He couldn't think. How was he supposed to get her out without falling in? Meg was weakening, her movements were slower, her kicking less forceful.

"HELP!" he screamed. Hagrid came running from his hut and for the first time, Blaise was glad to see the half-giant.

Hagrid pulled off his scarf and threw one end to Meg. She grabbed it and in one movement, Hagrid pulled her out of the water and into his arms. She was semi-conscious. She shivered violently.

"I'm taking her to the infirmary. Get your skates off and come," Hagrid ordered. Then he was gone.

***

Meg woke up under a mountain of blankets, with hot water bottles packed all around her.

There was a curtain drawn around her bed, cutting her off from the rest of the room. She was so warm. Everything was white. For a second, she wondered if she was dead. Then she heard the voices arguing.

She recognized them as Blaise and Harry.

"What were you even doing out there?" Harry asked angrily. "It's March."

"Meg wanted to teach me to skate. How was I supposed to know that the ice would be thin?"

"Because it's March?" Harry said.

"Shh," Hermione's voice hissed. "Keep your voice down."

"She said that it was cold enough," Blaise said.

"Yeah, it was cold enough all right. Cold enough to nearly freeze her to death."

"Oh, so it's my fault now?" Blaise was angry too.

"**I didn't say it was your fault."**

"You didn't have to. I took her skating and she fell in and almost froze. That's what you were thinking."

"Well, if it fits−"

"I'm the one who saved her!"

"Hagrid saved her. He said that you were standing there doing nothing when he showed up."

"Goes to show how much the half-breed knows."

"That's enough!" Madame Pomfrey's voice silenced them all. "Meg has had a terrible accident and needs rest. What she does not need is you lot arguing about whose fault it is. It was no one's fault. Now, you all need to leave."

"But I'm her boyfriend."

"Now! Or I will deduct house points," Madame Pomfery's voice left no room for argument. Meg heard feet walking away. Silence descended on the infirmary.

Words echoed through Meg's head: Freeze to death, doing nothing, half-breed.

She tried to remember what happened. She remembered the cracking sound and the feeling that the ice was buckling. She remembered reaching for a hand hold and finding nothing. Had he really done nothing?

Meg closed her eyes and gave herself over to sleep.


	4. April

**April - rabbits; "Yes, I'm short. Tell me something I don't know."**

Meg had her feet on his lap and was ranting.

"And he sends me into the cupboard to get more wolfsbane which, of course, he keeps on the top shelf. He did it on purpose, eh? He wanted to make me ask for help; make me admit that I can't do something because he's mad that I'm good in potions. Damn him!"

Blaise waited until she stopped. He was looking at her with bemusement. It made her feel like she was five years old. "Done?" he asked. She nodded meekly. She'd gotten a little out of control.

"Maybe he didn't realize that it would be hard for you?" Blaise suggested. "I mean you'd been sitting down, maybe he forgot how short you were."

**"Yes, I'm short. Tell me something I don't know."**

"Hmm, we're in a bad mood today."

"I was Snape's punching bag today, You would be too if you were in my shoes. Oh wait you're a Slytherin."

"I'd rather be a Slytherin than a blood−" Blaise stopped short.

"A what?" Meg asked in a deathly calm voice. "Blood traitor? Is that what you were about to say?"

"It's not like that," Blaise said.

"Then what is it like?" Meg asked. "What am I to you? Your pretty arm candy but not someone who you'd ever get serious with because I'm a 'blood traitor'?"

"If that's what I thought, do you think I'd defend you to my friends all the time?"

"Defend me?" Meg scoffed. "They insult me all the time and I've never once heard you defend me."

"Maybe if you spent more time with me and less time with Potter."

"This is not about him. This is about us."

The silence between them was so charged.

"I have to go," Blaise said, not meeting her eye. "But I'll, um, see you later."

"Yeah, sure," said Meg. Blaise walked away.

Meg headed back to the Gryffindor common room feeling awful. House and Blood loyalty had been a sore spot in their relationship from the beginning. Blaise had ingrained prejudices against Gryffindors and Meg couldn't stand his Slytherin friends. But this was the first time that Blaise had brought up that her family were considered "Blood traitors."

Meg opened the portrait hole and was assaulted with Easter merriment. The walls of the common room were covered in cardboard cut-out bunnies and multi-coloured Easter eggs, courtesy of Lavender, Parvati and their followers. It only made Meg's mood worse.

Lavender bounded over to her holding a live rabbit in her arms.

"Want to pet the Easter bunny? It's good luck," she said in her happy, sing-song voice.

Meg growled. "The only thing rabbits are good for is stew!" she snapped before pushing past her and dashing up the stairs. Lavender stared after her with a horrified expression on her face, clutching the rabbit to her chest.

"You savage Canadian!" she yelled but Meg was gone.


	5. May

**May - family; "And so begins my life as a nun."**

_Hi Mom,_

_Happy Mother's Day!! I can't believe I'm away from you on Mother's Day. I think this is the first time since that year I had food poisoning that we haven't been together. _

_I wish you were here. I really need to talk to you. It's about Blaise. I don't know about our relationship anymore. We barely spend any time together anymore and when we do it seems like all we do now is argue. Our relationship was this symbol of house unity, but what if that's all it is now? A symbol? I realize more and more lately that I really don't know Blaise that well and vice versa. Every so often one of us will say something that the other one should know, but didn't. Maybe because during the point in our relationship when we should have been getting to know each other all we did was make out. Or, "snog" as they say here. ;) _

_And I'm still having trouble with his friends. They hate me, and I'm not too fond of them either. The difference is that I tried to get along with them, but they've been saying to Blaise from the beginning to dump me because I'm a Gryffindor and a half-blood and all that crap. I don't know what to do._

_Sigh. __**And so begins my life as a nun. **__I'm sorry. I'm whining and being melodramatic, but I can't help it._

_School is good. My classes aren't too hard, though I still suck at Potions. I can't wait until I can drop it. I know what you're going to say: I should keep my options open, but I HATE it! Can't I keep my options open another way?_

_I have to go but I'll write to you later. Sorry for filling your Mother's Day letter with my problems, but that's all part of being a mother, right?_

_Love you always,_

_Meggy_


	6. June

**June - friends; "I have a redheaded temper and an ADD attention span." **

Meg sat with her friends in the common room studying. Exams were upon them and Meg was desperately trying to learn what she'd missed before Christmas. Hermione was great, but Harry and Ron were just getting in the way.

"Gillyweed?" Hermione quizzed.

"Um, plant that turns you half-fish," Meg said.

"And?"

"Discovered in 1683 by Elladora Ketteridge but Beaumont Majoribanks was credited with the discovery a hundred years later in..."

"1788," Hermione supplied. Meg groaned and rubbed her temples. "Come on Meg, focus. You need to learn this."

"How will memorizing this crap help me in life?" Meg demanded. "It's stupid." She threw her Herbology notes on the table and grabbed her Charms notes to study.

Just then, Ginny came bursting into the common room. She caught sight of her brother and his friends and stormed over to them.

"I hate boys," she announced. "They're stupid and insensitive and I hate them."

"More power to you sister suffragette," Meg said.

"What? Oh never mind," said Ginny sitting down. "I need advice. What do you do if your boyfriend is mad at you?"

"Get your brother to beat him up for you," Ron said. Ginny sent him a withering look that made him become very absorbed in his notes.

"You're asking us?" Hermione laughed. "Neither of us have boyfriends."

"But Meg-"

"Just broke up with Blaise," Meg finished.

"Oh," Ginny said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's for the best," said Meg. "Now, what's wrong with Dean?"

"Apparently, **I have a redheaded temper and an ADD attention span,**" she said.

Hermione laughed. "Not much you can do about that."

"He says that I don't listen and that I'm too judgmental."

"Of what?"

"Him, Seamus, the girls he's friends with. He's not on the quidditch team anymore and he's been going around saying things to everyone about Harry."

"He started the rumours?" Harry demanded.

"What rumours?" Hermione asked.

"That Harry ousted Dean from the team because he wanted to get to me," Ginny supplied. "You really haven't heard? You should come up for air from your books more often. Anyway, that the main rumour."

"Which is ridiculous," Harry put in. "You're like my sister for crying out loud."

"So I confronted him and he had the nerve to get mad at me! Now we're not speaking."

"You know what? It's probably for the best," Meg patted Ginny's knee. "Who needs a jealous, overbearing man like him?"

"Yeah, I have six brothers already," Ginny laughed.

"Hey!" Ron said. "We do that out of love."

"I'm just teasing, you nit," Ginny cuffed him over the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"Seriously, Gin," said Meg. "Sometimes you've just got to roll with the punches. _Que sera, sera_ and all that."

"Whatever will be, will be," Ginny echoed staring at her hands. Meg thought she saw tears.

"Ginny?"

Ginny looked up. She was trying not to cry, but her eyes were filling fast. "It just hurts, that's all. It hurts."

Meg pulled her close. "I know," she rubbed Ginny's back and let her cry. "Believe me, I know."


	7. July

**July - fireworks; "If a week goes by and your friends are not completely confused or terrified by one of your actions, you're not doing your job."**

Meg was bouncing with excitement. She was so glad that she had managed to organize Harry, Ron and Hermione visiting her in Canada. They would be spending the last week of July and the first week of August at the cottage, with Meg's parents.

Meg jumped out of the car almost before it stopped in front of the little cottage.

"Ta-da!" she sang. The cottage was a ramshackle little thing that had recently been re-shingled. It was also the graveyard for any furniture that was no longer wanted in the house in Ottawa.

But it wasn't the cottage that Meg wanted to show her English guests, it was the lake. She led them right past the cottage and down onto the dock. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful view.

"Wow, there's nothing like this in England," Hermione breathed. Harry and Ron nodded. This was uniquely Canadian. There were a few cottages visible, but most were obscured by trees. There was a savage beauty about the lake and the forest. It was so vast and the trees were so dense. It looked like the opposite shore was entirely trees.

"I never knew it could be so quiet," Ron said. Far away, a loon cried its mournful song.

Meg then took her friends on a quick tour. And quick it was since the cottage was so small. The door led right into the main room that was kitchen, living room and dining room in one. Off the main room was the bathroom, two bedrooms and the enclosed porch that had been converted into a bedroom.

"Ron and Harry get the porch and Hermione, you're with me," Meg waved vaguely in that direction. "Now, first rule of the cottage: don't drink the tap water." Meg turned on the kitchen faucet to demonstrate. The water was slightly brown tinged. "It comes straight from the lake and will make you sick. We brought jugs of water up from the city, drink that. Second rule: Don't leave any food unsealed. The mice or the bugs will get at it. Put it in the fridge or in the cooler under the counter."

"It's very...rustic," Harry said after an awkward silence.

Meg laughed. "Man, you're lucky there's running water."

"You didn't have running water?" Hermione, the city-slicker, said. She sounded horrified.

"Well, that's not really true," Meg admitted. "There's always been running water but the shower was only put in last year."

"How did you bathe before?" Ron asked.

"When you go swimming every day, you keep pretty clean. We just washed our hair in the lake."

"The lake?" Hermione gasped.

"You are such a city kid, Hermione," Meg teased. "You want the Canadian experience? How about going out in the middle of the night to use the outhouse, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and black flies and then running into a grizzly bear going that's through your garbage?"

Hermione just stared at her.

"Don't worry," Meg said quickly. "There's a toilet inside and we never put the garbage out overnight just for that reason."

"What? So you just say these things to frighten me?"

Meg laughed. **"If a week goes by and your friends are not completely confused or terrified by one of your actions, you're not doing your job. **And by you I mean me. Now come on. We have to unload the car and then start dinner."

The sun had set by the time they'd finished their dinner of corn-on-the-cob and juicy barbecued hamburgers. After spraying everyone with bug spray, Meg took her friends down to sit on the dock and look at the stars.

She shined her flashlight on the star book that they had brought down. "See that bright one? That's Polaris, the Northern Star. And those stars above it, that kind of curve, make up Ursa Minor. And over there is the Big Dipper."

"You can't see the stars from the city. It's so huge," Ron said. "Makes you feel sort of insignificant, doesn't it." They sat on the dock in silence, staring upwards.

"What's that?" Harry pointed to the sky.

Meg looked up and gasped. "The Aurora," she whispered. And then the sky lit up. Pink lights danced in the sky, like from a giant's paintbrush and the sky was his canvas. The trees stood out in relief from the brilliant sky. The lights flickered up and down, dimming only to swell all the more powerfully a second later.

Meg shivered, but not from the cold. It really did make you feel insignificant.

"I thought I loved fireworks," Hermione said quietly. "But this is better. It's unbelievable. What makes it do that?"

"Something to do with the sun and magnetic fields. Here," Meg handed Hermione the star book and the flashlight.

"Oh, I'll look it up later," Hermione said absently.

The beauty of the Aurora made even Hermione forget her earthly concerns.


	8. August

**August - beach; "No one is nicer than I am. There was once, but I took care of that."**

Harry, Ron and Hermione were still at Meg's cottage and they were having the time of their lives. Days stretched on forever with nothing to do but swim, read, play board games and ride bikes. At least for three of the foursome.

"What do you mean you can't ride a bike?" Meg gawked at Ron.

"I grew up with magic. I never had to learn," he said.

"This is not happening. Come on," Meg ordered. She rushed out to the garage, grabbed an old bike of her Dad's and wheeled it out.

"Take this," she handed Ron a helmet. "I am teaching you right now."

"Right now?" Ron gasped.

"Yes, then we can all bike over to the beach. It's only a few miles up the road," she told them.

Ron looked at the bike like it might bite him. "It looks awfully unstable."

"More unstable than a broom?" Meg challenged. "I don't think so, now get on."

Ron perched on the seat and Meg held onto the seat post.

"Ok, pedals, handlebars, brakes, gears. Now go." Ron pushed the pedals and Meg ran behind him to keep him stable. After a few strides, she let go and stopped running.

"Brake!" she yelled. He pulled on the brakes, but didn't put his foot down fast enough. He toppled over to the side. The other three ran over to him.

"What was that?" Ron gasped. "I fell over!"

"Well, you stopped and didn't put your foot down. What did you expect?" Hermione asked through her laughter.

"A broom doesn't fall over," he said pathetically. "And where were you?" he demanded of Meg.

"I stopped running when we passed that bush. You had a good ten feet of quality bike riding."

"I did?" Ron's face lit up. "Yeah, I did! That was a mean trick though."

"Are you kidding me? **No one is nicer than I am. There was once, but I took care of that," **Meg pretended to primp and everyone laughed. Hermione was still laughing when the others stopped.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked.

"I finally found a sport where I'm better than you," she laughed. "YES!"


	9. September

**September - school; "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."**

The first of September dawned bright and sunny. Meg had managed to talk her parents into let her finishing school at Hogwarts. They had seen how happy she was with them when her Hogwarts friends were up at the cottage so it wasn't that hard a sell.

"Meg, come on!" Hermione yelled. Meg ran after Hermione onto the train.

She looked up and down the hallways but saw no sign of her friend. Meg started back to their compartment. As she moved into the next train, she stopped cold.

There was Blaise. He was standing in the hallway talking to Draco Malfoy. He was laughing at something that Draco had said. Meg got the same cold feeling that she had when she had fallen in the frozen lake last March. His laugh drifted down the train to her. Meg remembered when she could make him laugh like that.

Meg took a deep breath. She was a Gryffindor. She was supposed to be brave. So why was she so terrified to walk towards him? She didn't even have to walk past; her compartment was closer than him.

Blaise saw her first. He pretended that he hadn't, but the look on his face made Draco turn around.

"Well well, if it isn't the little savage," he strolled towards her but he still managed to get between her and the compartment before she could react. Blaise followed hesitantly.

"Get out of my way," Meg said. Blaise was looking at her. She was looking everywhere but him.

"What happened to your face?" Draco asked. "Get mauled by a moose?"

Meg raised her hand instinctively to her black eye. She had fallen off her bike.

"I was a bear, actually," she said sarcastically. "Now get out of my way or I'll make us twins." Draco seemed unsure of whether to believe her or not. He relaxed his shoulders just a little and Meg pushed her way past him.

Blaise caught her arm before she could get far. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Meg kept not looking at him. "I'm fine," she told the floor. She pulled her arm free and fled into her compartment.

As soon as she sat down, all her bravado melted away and it was all she could do not to cry.

Hermione saw her face immediately. "What happened?"

"I saw Blaise in the hall."

"What did he do?" Harry asked. He looked ready to go and fight him. A stern look from Hermione made him sit down again.

"Oh, Meg," Hermione rubbed her back.

"He just makes me feel so confused. Like I'm lost in my own head and I can't think my way out."

"**It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything,"** Hermione intoned.

Despite herself, Meg laughed. "Well, look at you Little Miss Fortune Cookie."

Hermione and the boys laughed too. "I think I read that in a book somewhere," Hermione said. "I can't remember though." Hermione turned serious. "You will be fine," she told Meg. "He isn't worth it. He's just a boy."

"Hey!" said Ron.

"You're different," Meg assured him. "You two are friends. You're in a different category."

"Hear that?" Ron asked Harry. "We're a category to ourselves."

"I knew it," Harry laughed. The others joined in.

The train kept on going.


	10. October

**October - cat; "You know everything about me, so if we stop being friends I'll have to kill you because so help me… you are taking it to the grave."**

The midterm crunch had just ended and the Gryffindor girls were enjoying their free time in the dorm. Hermione was French braiding Meg's hair, Parvati was painting her toe nails purple and Lavender was trying to pick between blonde and red highlights for her hair.

"Go with blonde," Parvati advised. "Platinum blonde. Red will make you look sallow."

"I don't know," Lavender stared at her reflection in the mirror. Meg had the impression that she just liked staring at herself.

Crookshanks came in and rubbed his sides against Hermione. Her hands were busy with Meg's hair.

"Aw, come here Crookshanks," Meg held out her arms. Crookshanks glared at her and stalked from the room. "Don't leave me hanging," Meg laughed. "I think cats don't like me."

"Why on earth would you think that?" Hermione asked.

"My bike accident at the end of the summer was because a cat darted out in front of me. I swerved so I wouldn't hit it and ended up hitting a tree."

"Ouch!" Parvati turned around. "Good thing you weren't more badly hurt."

"That black eye was pretty bad," Lavender observed. "I would have died if I had to start the school year with a black eye."

"Thanks Lavender," Meg said sarcastically.

"I didn't know that's what happened," Hermione said. "It's been so long since we've talked, Meg."

"So let's talk," Meg said. "What should we talk about?"

"I don't know. Tell me something about yourself that I don't know."

Meg laughed. **"You know everything about me, so if we stop being friends I'll have to kill you because so help me… you are taking it to the grave."**

"Meg!" Hermione laughed. "That's awful!" Meg and Hermione laughed until their sides hurt. Lavender and Parvati looked at them like they were crazy.

"Ok, something you don't know," Meg thought. "Um, I hate sushi."

"I knew that."

"I was on the swimming team at my old school."

"I knew that."

"I..." Meg trailed off. Lavender had just sprayed herself with strawberry perfume. Blaise was always chewing strawberry flavoured gum.

"I miss Blaise," Meg said finally.

Hermione put a hand on Meg's shoulder and turned her around so they were face to face. "I knew that too."

"I didn't much over the summer. I had distractions and Canada is so different that I could forget him. But here... he's everywhere here."

Lavender came over and sat in front of Meg on the bed. "Maybe I can give you highlights?" she volunteered. "Makeovers are great for forgetting jerks."

Parvati squealed. "Oh, that would be fun. Please let us."

"Sure," Meg laughed. "Why not?"

"Yay!" Lavender rushed off to the bathroom to get some things and Parvati fanned her toes to try and make them dry faster.

"You're not replacing me, are you?" Hermione asked jokingly.

Meg laughed. "Of course not. But remember, to the grave."


	11. November

**November - food; "Can you imagine if I was deranged?"**

The one person that Meg really wanted to talk to was the one person that she couldn't talk to. Her pride wouldn't let her apologize to Blaise and her cowardice wouldn't let her ask him for one. The castle which had once been a warm, cozy, safe haven now felt damp and drafty. Meg went from her classes back to Gryffindor common room as fast as possible. Gryffindor Tower was safe and Blaise free.

But as she rounded a corner, what she saw made her freeze.

There was Blaise and he was walking with a girl wearing Slytherin robes. It was that feeling that you get in your stomach when the elevator first starts moving. Meg felt like she was at the bottom of a well, looking up at the girl and Blaise walking together.

Meg wasn't thinking. If she had been, she would have realised that it was a bad idea. She walked right up to them.

"Can you give us a minute?" she said to the girl. The girl looked slightly alarmed but left.

Meg and Blaise stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"Well?" Blaise said finally.

"What do you mean well?"

"I mean you chased Heather away. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Heather? Is that her name?" Meg laughed. "Well what's _Heather_ like? Is she nice? Is she funny? Does she make you laugh with her craziness?"

"I don't know. She's my Ancient Runes partner."

"She's your−"

"Besides, you broke up with me. What do you care?"

"I−" Meg's breath caught in her throat. The bottom of the well disappeared and Meg was freefalling. "Oh," was all she could say. They stood awkwardly for a moment, staring at each other. Meg didn't want to stare, but she couldn't help it. Her eyes drank in every angle of his face, committing it to memory.

Blaise cleared his throat. "I see your eye is better," he said.

"Um, yeah."

"You left so fast that day on the train. I never got to ask what actually happened."

Meg gave a little laugh. "Just a thing with my bike and a crazy cat and a tree that didn't get out of the way in time."

"Ouch!" Blaise smiled at her and she caught her breath again.

"Don't look at me like that," she managed to whisper.

"Meg," he began but she cut him off.

"No! Listen! You need to stop looking at me like that because when you do I can't think and I can't breathe and I... I still love you."

Her mouth was dry. She felt scared, naked, vulnerable like she never had before.

Then Blaise took her face in his hands and pressed his lips to her lips. Meg's stomach did another lurch but Meg revelled in the feeling. "I still love you too," he said.

"Good," Meg laughed. "Otherwise that kiss thing might have been awkward."

Blaise laughed too. "You are nice. You are funny. You make me laugh with your craziness, in all its glory."

"**Can you imagine if I was deranged?" **Meg laughed.

Blaise laughed too. "No thanks. Let's go get some lunch, shall we?"

Meg nodded, stood on her tip toes and kissed him. And everything in her world was perfect.


End file.
